Repetition
by Hakumei-chan
Summary: RnREXE The age of the Navis said to have almost brought destruction to the world. Hence, the world demanded their deletion. Some ran to hide from their demise and the world forgot overtime. History has a funny way of repeating itself. Full Summary inside.
1. The Ending of an Old Era

Summary: In the history books, the age of the Navis said to have almost brought destruction to the world. Hence, the world demanded the deletion of every navi. Some ran to hide from their demise and the world forgot about them overtime. That part of history has been long buried under the advances of the EM Waves. Of course, nobody cared about the past until history repeats itself in the future. RnR/EXE

**Repetition**

_Together forever, right?_

/-------------------------------/

Eventually, everybody dies. There is no 'why' or 'how,' it's just how humans are. Net Navis understand that but that doesn't mean they like it.

"Netto…" Rockman _– no, Saito -_ muttered as he called out his brother. He held onto his brother's hand tightly, tears threatening to fall down on his face despite of his efforts to hide it. Netto is no different than the others as the passage of time wore down his body. The once youthful appearance was replaced with wrinkles and crinkles, innocent curiosity was replaced with an air of maturity, and the shadow of death approaching the man. How long has it been since their first meeting as navi and operator? Sixty? Seventy? It's been oh so long for the both of them. Tired brown eyes look back at the youthful green eyes with a hurricane of emotions _–sadness, guilt with a possible mix of happiness and pride?-_.

"Nii-san…" The old man murmured. Netto gripped back Saito's hand tighter to reassure his brother he's fine _–and failed, seeing his older brother can be a psycho mother hen, no amount of comfort will get through Saito-_.

It's been so many years ago when Papa and Netto built a fake body for Rockman. It was a bit different from a Copyroid _– Papa managed to add a program to allow Saito to choose between looking like a navi or human in the real world –_ but still similar nonetheless. It was weird at first; Saito was exactly a mirror image of his twelve year-old brother, but his raven black hair and emerald eyes remained the same. That didn't stop the navi twin from being happy. To be in the same world has always been a dream for Saito and Netto, it was after the Cybeasts incident when that dream finally came true.

The only problem was that the aging program didn't seem to be compatible with the navi, so Saito remained looking like a twelve year-old while Netto grew up _–hugs got weird after a while, especially that one time when somebody called the police-._ Saito dropped the '-kun' suffix a long time ago while Netto picked up 'nii-san' after that. It was a silent agreement between the two brothers, and despite of the obvious age appearance.

Peace lasted for a long time, Saito and Netto cherish their time together, and Saito got to see his brother grow up from outside the PET. No longer will they be separated by both worlds with only a window to look through. No longer will the small contraption separate them ever again. Netto got married, had a family, and became the next major scientist just like Papa. Only a few knew about Saito/Rockman's journey to the outside world, and only those few Netto could trust in keeping that secret to their grave. Time passed as they enjoyed the peace...but, life is cruel and fate decided to toss a new challenge into their life.

It was a huge event. The news talked about it for years. There was an incident sometime around 206X revolving around the loss of seventy-five percent of the world's data was deleted. Economy failed, businesses were lost, and the world was thrown in a massive panic and confusion for a very long time. Viruses were naturally blamed, and later on, navis were blamed for the fault. Add in all the years of terrorists attacks by both navis_- curse you, Darkloids and every other evil navis that was ever created- _and viruses, the type of incidents that could have happened should those attacks have succeeded, and you have all of humanity demanding for blood _–data, technically-. _Rockman was no different, they demanded for his deletion as well _–he is powerful and always adapting to his environment, therefore, he is dangerous-. _Netto tried _–tried very, very hard with everybody that believed in what he believed- _to convince he world what they're doing is wrong…but to no effect. Saito couldn't escape to the human world, then the whole world will discover Papa's invention and navis will fight over the invention to escape the cruel net. Without a fight, Saito surrendered as Rockman and waited for his deletion. That was, until Netto went as far as busting him out of his cyber prison -_along with every other navi he possibly can-_ and dragged his brother out of the net. Literally.

"I'm sorry, Nii-san," Netto apologized. "I don't have that much time left." Saito shook his head; tears were ready to fall down the boy's face. No…he can't in front of Netto, he doesn't want the tears to be the last thing Netto sees before leaving this world _–and his older brother –_ behind. "But please understand…"

Understand why your little brother broke the DNA bond you two had just so you can live, Saito. Going so far as to reformat your program to be independent navi just so you can survive. He loves you so much.

No, Saito never understood Netto. He was furious _–as furious as he could be. He could never stay mad at Netto for too long, it wasn't in him to do so, even after all these years-_ and hurt. Hurt because he can't feel the presence of his brother in his head anymore. He doesn't feel complete anymore. It's not the same and Saito figured it was time and age that changed his brother, while he remained the same. Saito was so stupid to realize it.

"I want to save you." Netto said.

"I know, Netto," Saito shook his head. "You don't have to apologize." A part of Saito wanted to shake Netto by the collar and screamed 'I don't understand why the hell are you're doing this to me!? To us!' Netto only smiled sadly back.

"You're a bad liar, nii-san," Netto pointed out.

"I'm not," Saito replied.

"You're lying right now, Nii-san," Netto said with a teasing voice. "You don't have to act tough, you know."

"You don't have to apologize still," Saito informed. Netto grinned in response.

"Heh, don't ever change, for me?" Netto asked.

In translation, Saito knew Netto is asking him not to blame humanity: The mass deletion _–genocide- _of navis, locking his friends and family up like criminals, and having Netto and his friends to bail them out. Only two other navis other than him made it out alive _–of the cyber prison where many waited dreadfully for deletion row-. _The police caught Netto and his friends and placed all of them under surveillance watch for their crazy stunt while Saito, Blues and Searchman escaped through the net and into the real world with Netto's Copyroids as their median _–they were also given a program to blend with the humans similar to the one Saito received years ago-_. The authorities was furious and found it was useless to look for the escapees now they are among _them_.

"…I won't," Saito said. "Promise." He sealed his fate with those words, those words left his mouth, he closed his eyes and leaned down next to Netto to hear his brother's heart _–it was beating slower than the last he heard it…somewhere near the fifties now. It's so slow; Netto is almost out of time. He'll go to sleep soon…and he'll never wake up again_-.

"Rockman," said a familiar voice. Saito turned to see Blues in his Copyroid body, _–Netto built those extra bodies, he was bored and he had the whole week to himself one time. How he managed to make six bodies in such a short time and by himself with just his hands was a mystery to Saito-_ standing behind the door frame. Searchman stood near the edge of the window, looking out for any unwanted guests.

Out of everybody else, the three of them are the only ones left _–though, Forte was questionable-_. Nobody else made it out alive _-And Saito remembered the terrified screams of his friends, he couldn't save them, it was already too late. He's the one to blame-_.

"I know," Saito whispered. Saying goodbye was the worst thing that he could do. The world is after their existence. They knew the danger of seeing their former operators one last time, Netto and the others are in so much trouble already, and authorities are keeping a close watch on them.

"You have to go, Nii-san," Netto said.

"But you'll be alone…" Saito said. Meiru-chan died long ago and Raito wasn't allowed to see his father, by the order of the authorities, only because they believe the boy would give the father something that would aid Netto in helping Rockman again _–if only they knew-._ The world is too cruel. Netto merely smiles and offers it as comfort for his brother.

"I know, Saito Nii-san," Netto paused. "I wish I could see the future with you." Despite of his crinkly features, Netto managed to look innocent, and it made Saito remember the past _–before that goddamn incident-_ and the emotions attached to those memories. "Will you see the future for the both of us?"

"…I will, Netto," Saito promised, his voice was barely a whisper. He could never say no to Netto too, even after all these decades; he couldn't muster the strength to say that one stupid word _–save for homework and paperwork-_. The raven-haired boy could feel his cheeks wet. He couldn't hold it back anymore. With one hand, Netto wiped those tears away from Saito's face.

"Crying? You're such a baby," Netto teased. A simple joke that reminded Saito so easily of the past and immediately, the tears fell faster.

"I'm not a baby," Saito said, wiping those tears away with his own sleeves.

"Rockman," Blues called again.

It was time to go. A police squad will be coming in to check up on Netto's room soon. If they don't hurry, they'll be caught.

"Goodbye, Saito nii-san…Rock," Netto said. Tears were falling down the old man's face, his little brother's emotion has finally surfaced. "Please…_please_, be safe."

"I will," Saito paused. "Goodbye, Netto." With that, Saito left with Blues and Searchman. Out of the house and into the darkness of the night, they ran and never once looked back _–Saito was afraid he'll turn back if he looked. A promise is a promise, he'll keep on running-_.

Had the twin's bond remained, Saito would have heard Netto's last thought.

'_Goodbye, Nii-san.'_

/-----------------/

Author's Ramblings: This is my first / Ryuusei no Rockman crossover and my first Rockman fic. I really shouldn't be doing this. I'm also doing a Naruto/BLEACH crossover, but I read one too many angst stories, played both RMEXE and RnR games on the DS and well…I felt like doing a crossover. Another reason why is because of the upcoming came, Operate Shooting Star! It's a likely crossover and a remake of the first Battle Network game. Looking at the trailer now…I swear, if Capcom used the same VAs in BN5 remake, I swear, I might just actually throw my DSI across the room.

I really hope my readers waiting for my other crossover doesn't find out about this fic. . Give me your thoughts about this and leave a review? I would like your opinion about this. I will have a mix of the anime, game and manga elements in it, so don't complain!


	2. The New Student

Chapter 01: The New Student

_I'll lend you my power whenever you need it._

/--------------------------/

_"Are you ready for this, Saito?" Papa asked, looking down at his eldest son as the both of them stood outside of the Hikari residence. They could hear laughter and indignant shouts coming from the other side of the door, it's Netto's twelfth birthday today._

_No, correction: Today is Netto and Saito's Birthday. _

"_I don't know," Saito replied, inside, he was having a panic meltdown. There was so many 'what ifs' and doubt in the boy's mind. The boy kept on looking down at his human-looking hands _–he knows that there was no flaw in the program Papa installed, he couldn't help thinking that he'll revert back into his navi form at any time, and scare everybody in the process-_ and unconsciously flex them. The Copyroid that Papa created was finally finished not too long ago, Saito have received e-mails from Papa to not tell Netto about this until their birthday weeks before, and what better way than to surprise the younger boy than this? About a week ago, Saito was ecstatic about this, but now doubt and uncertainty crept over, forming negative scenarios that could happen. What if Netto doesn't accept this? Will his brother look at him differently? _

"_You two have been waiting for this for a long time now," Papa began. "Why hesitate and wait when Netto's just a door away?" Saito turned to look up to his father with a tinge of hope. _

"_All right," Saito inhaled and exhaled to calm himself down the best he could. _

"_Ready?" Papa asked again. Saito nodded, Papa twisted the doorknob, swung the door wide open and the both of them walked in. Multiple reactions happened at the same time. Haruka looked as if she went into shock the moment she saw Saito entering the room, Netto's closer friends _–friends his age along with Enzan and Laika. Those two were actually smiling before they saw Saito coming in-_ were huddled around over on the other side of the room, and the older guests stopped chattering and stare hard on the boy they have never seen in their life with curiosity _–Miyabi looked ready to attack should Saito move or talk funny-_. Saito did his best to ignore the quiet and the stares to find his brother. He didn't have to look long when he saw Netto coming down the stairs. _

"_Why is it so…quiet," Netto stopped and gapped as he stared back at Saito, a bit dazed, confused and shock all at the same time. For a moment, time seem to have froze in the Hikari residence, that is, until Papa cleared his throat and everybody came out of their little trance. _

"_Netto-kun," Saito greeted, and Netto's eyes widen the moment the boy registered the voice in his mind. _

_"Saito?" Netto called out, uncertain and most likely figured he was dreaming. "…Nii-san?" Saito figured even without their link, his little brother's probably thinking, 'This isn't real.' Or 'I dead, aren't I?' Feeling a bit more confident, Saito nodded._

"_Happy Birthday, Netto-kun," Saito said with his trademark smile. "I hope Papa and I didn't arrive too late for the party." Netto's eyes widen even more _–if that was possible- _before taking a step forward, then another, and finally ran past his guests, launching himself into Saito's arms. Netto hugged Saito tightly, as if to make sure he wasn't hallucinating _–Saito decided that Netto has a stronger between the two of them-_, Saito could feel the fabric of his shirt getting wet and finally Netto let out the strangled sob he's been holding for so long. _

"_Saito Nii-san!" Netto cried aloud. Saito felt his resolution snapped and cried. The twins cried, they cried with tears of happiness. Finally _–finally-_ they're reunited in the same world at last. _

/-------------------------/

Boxes were everywhere, in the small apartment as a raven-haired boy roused from the sound of his alarm clock. He sat up from his couch and stretched before falling back to the comfort of the cushions _–the bed hasn't been set up yet…and the instructions is somewhere buried under the mess-_ he bought before moving in to his small temporary home. Kodama Elementary won't start for another thirty minutes, and he could make it there in ten minutes or less.

'_Or I could pull a Netto and sleep in,'_ the boy mused but banished that thought. _'I can't do that… the school is expecting me…I don't want to get on their bad side on the first day, so I guess not.'_

Yes, two hundred and twelve year-old Hikari Saito was going back to school…for the tenth time. People get suspicious when there's a twelve year-old walking around while others his age are in school. It's more suspicious to the humans should he remain in one area for too long and look the same after two or three years _–stupid aging program that failed. Why must you don't work?-_. Moving is a must, it saddens Saito but he knew it was the only way for him to survival. He did promised his brother, after all. The age of the Internet was long gone, EM waves became the next big thing and Transers replaced the PET. He could see the EM World above him, he almost wish he could change into a navi and 'try' to walk on those paths, but it's too risky _–two hundred years later and still freaking paranoid, go figure-._

Saito turned to his right to see the desk he managed to complete the other day, and on it are three picture frames _– though the pictures were worn out, each frame held a significant photo of his past. He should really reprint them soon-. _He looked at the one with him smiling alongside with Netto when the boy is still in his teenage years.

"Well, I'm giving school a try again, Netto," Saito said to the frame, as if it was really his brother. "I know, it's stupid when I could just pull out data from the net and learn from there, but it gets lonely. I don't really have anybody to talk to…Blues, Searchman and I separated a long time ago, and the last time I heard anything from them was about five years ago." A flicker of sadness raced through his mind, remembering the past for a moment…and then he smiled brightly. "Oh! I also heard about a new hero appearing now, guess what? His name is Rockman! Looks like he's this era's blue hero. I heard he stopped the FM-ians from destroying this world with their ultimate weapon, the Andromeda. Kodama was the viruses' hotspot so I'll start my search from here." He laughed. "Maybe I'll see him, knowing my luck, I probably might." His laughter slowly ceased. "You know, Netto, the EM World is huge and vast. I can see it without any special devices or whatsoever, I'm pretty sure it's because I'm still a program in a body of a Copyroid after all…and I'm pretty sure Blues and Searchman can see it too, but that world is like a painful reminder of the past. I bought a Transer not too long ago…I say the PET are way better, and I'm not getting a Wizard…it feels like history is already repeating itself again," He frowned. "It feels weird, even after all these years, you're not here to operate me. I haven't fought anything or anyone since that day…"

There was a long sickening silence in the apartment before Saito turned to read his alarm clock.

_7:24 am_

Another minute later, Saito realized he has five minutes until school starts and cursed himself for actually pulling a Netto while bolting out of the place.

/------------------/

The classroom was buzzing with talk about the new student when Subaru walked in. It was no surprise; new students are rare, especially during this time of the year. He made his way towards Luna and the others. From a distance, he could already tell they were talking about the new transfer already.

"It's just a new kid," War-rock muttered from his Transer. "What's so special about that?"

"Who knows?" Subaru replied. "He or she could be famous or something."

"Yeah right," War-rock snorted. "He or she is probably some geeky, quiet, introverted kid…like you."

"I'm not geeky," Subaru hissed.

"You prefer studying over virus busting, therefore, you're a geek," War-rock pointed out. "And you're admitting you're introverted by not denying the fact." The alien looked smug. He was enjoying the fact he's making his partner mad, and he would have continued had Ikuta-sensei didn't arrive.

"All right class," the male teacher began. "Let's settle down and get this class started." The child quickly scramble to their seat to start the day. At last, they're gonna meet the new student in the flesh. "As we all know, we have a transfer student coming in. Due to family reasons, he'll be here for the rest of the school year." Ikuta-sensei turned to the doorway and shouted aloud. "Please, come in! There's no need to be afraid!" he called.

The door slid open and everybody's attention was zoomed to the raven-haired boy. The new student wore a simple white long-sleeved shirt, long navy blue jeans, a simple pair of black sneakers, and carried his backpack in with one hand. His hair's a complete mess, as if he just got out of bed _–it doesn't take a genius to figure it out-_, and wide emerald green eyes surveyed the class with interest _–or boredom-_.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to everybody?" Ikuta-sensei asked, urging the boy to greet everybody.

"Hello," the boy greeted. "My name is Hikari Saito. I'm from Netopia and it's a pleasure to meet you all." Saito smiled. "I hope we can get along this year."

The class didn't say anything, the silence became awkward and Ikuta-sensei decided to continue on with the day.

"All right, Saito-kun, why don't you sit down right next to Subaru-kun so we can start on today's lesson? Raise your hand, Subaru-kun," Ikuta-sensei said. Subaru raised his hand; Saito silently walked over to his seat, sat down and took out a notebook and pencil to begin. Subaru glanced at Saito as Ikuta-sensei began lecturing about math; something about the new kid's last name was bugging him. He heard it somewhere before but he couldn't figure out where.

/----------------/

By the end of class, Saito mentally cheered as he packed up his books in his backpack and made his way out of the class. Now, he could go and explore town and look for clues of any viruses, Rockman, or FM-ians. Just going out and wander aimlessly around town wouldn't help much; it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. No, he could just go to the library and look for any articles that have any virus-related situations. Maybe-

"Hikari-kun!" Saito stopped and turned to see a blond haired girl walking up to him with an aura of superiority, behind her were three boys following her and Saito couldn't help but notice Subaru _–was that the name of boy who sat next to him?-_ looking a bit reluctant about this.

Hmm…something tells Saito he should make himself scarce before he gets roped into something he'll regret later on.

"Ah, yes, and you are?" Saito asked, keeping an innocent and naïve tone in his voice.

"I'm Shirogane Luna, Class president of the fifth grade, the current grade you're attending," she introduced.

"…Oh. Nice to meet you," Saito said with a small smile _–she reminded him eerily of Yaito, without the shiny forehead-_ and turned to the three boys behind her. "And you guys are?"

"Ushijima Gonta."

"Saishouin Kizamaro."

"Hoshikawa Subaru."

"It's nice to know the names of your fellow classmates, no?" Saito asked. "I'm Hikari Saito, again. Just in case one of you has already forgotten…is there something the matter?"

Luna smiled a bright smile _–why does it feel predatory at the same time?-_ ; a smile that Saito knows it indicates that she would want something in return.

He should really bail right **now**.

"As Class President, it is my duty to see everybody in class is getting along with each other and that you are comfortable in your new surrounding. Why don't hang out with us so we get to know you better." Saito felt his lips twitched.

"Ah, but I already have my schedule planned out for the day," Saito said.

"But you can ask your Wizard to move today's plans for another day," Luna countered.

"…I don't have a Wizard," Saito said. There was a long pregnant pause…and then Luna exploded.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE A WIZARD!?"

"I'm not interested in having a wizard," Saito replied and took a step back from Luna. "Besides, don't you know what the Wizards were based off of?"

"'Based off of?'" Subaru repeated.

"Right…Wizards were based off of a being that co-existed with us humans long ago, until the humans deleted them," Saito explained. War-rock appeared in front of Saito in a blink of an eye. Saito blinked once, blinked twice and smiled. "Hello, and you are?"

"War-rock," The AM-ian replied, leaning closer to the boy, invading Saito's personal space and studied the boy's expression. "And what do you mean the humans 'deleted them?'" Saito felt like he was being examined under a microscope.

"What I said," Saito replied taking two steps back. "Just look it up in the history books and you'll see." The boy glanced at his Transer and chuckled nervously. "Ah, look at the time! So much homework to do and I still have things to unpack back at home. Your Wizard looks pretty interesting, Subaru and I hope we can get along, War-rock. I'll see you tomorrow, bye!" With that, Saito bailed, turning around and ran as if the hounds from hell was after him.

With that, he left four bewildered classmates behind.

/-----------------/

"Subaru," Warrock called. Subaru looked down at his Transer to see the FM-ian looking dead serious. After Saito left, Subaru did the same. His mother wanted him to go home early today, for whatever reasons he didn't know, and Saito was right, Ikuta-sensei assigned a lot homework tonight.

"What is it?" Subaru asked.

"That kid isn't normal," Warrock replied.

"Prez freaked him out with her screaming and you just popped up in front of his face, it's a normal reaction," Subaru replied. "…At first sight, you do look scary."

"If the boy wasn't, then he has issues…but that's not the point!" War-rock cried, startling Subaru in the process. "And what do you mean I'm scary?!"

"Not so loud," The boy hissed. "What is it about him that's setting you off?"

"Kid, I don't think that boy's human," War-rock said in a blunt tone. Subaru was stunned at the sudden statement.

"_What?"_

/------------/

Author's Ramblings: I am giddy. Giddy because I'm happy to know this story is good so far. Thank you to those who reviewed. I really appreciate it. I'm sorry I chose not to add Roll but I'll mention her form time to time. Promise. If you think Saito/Rockman's a bit OOC, come on, two hundred years of being alone can change a person/navi's psyche. That's my opinion.

Oh well, I have class in a couple so I'm going to bed. Night! Leave a review!


	3. Theories

Chapter 02: Theories

_Battle routine, set!_

/-----------------/

_Netto could feel the beads of sweat as he furiously typed on his worn keyboard and did his best to ignore his aching hands. He can't stop now, not while he's on a tight schedule. His wrinkled face scrunched with intense concentration and his brown eyes shined with unimaginable determination like it did when he was still a youth. Ten minutes…just ten minutes is all he needs to finish his latest _–and most likely his last-_ program. His friends _–most of them anyways, the others…are resting in peace now. He shouldn't be thinking about that, time isn't exactly by his side-_ will be contacting him soon and he'll be ready for it. _

'_Netto…' Netto stopped for a moment as he heard Saito's voice through the link. He knew Saito was going to contact him sooner or later. The man guessed his nervousness got through the link and his brother sensed it._

_'I'm fine if that's what you want to know,' Netto said through their link, and then the old man continued typing again. His eyes hurt –looking at four computer screens at the same time is bad-, but he didn't complain. He doesn't have the time to do so._

_'You don't have to do this,' Saito said through their link. 'You'll be more in trouble with the authorities than you already am!'_

_'What are the authorities gonna do about it? Kick me out of my own house? Lock me up? I'm an old man, they can't do much about it,' Netto joked; the old man could feel the annoyance coming from the other side of their mental link. 'This is my choice, Nii-san,' Netto replied. 'You can reprimand me later.' Netto frowned, inwardly he knew Saito will do more than just reprimanding him…especially when he installs that other program into his brother. Saito-nii will hate him, he just know his brother will. Guilt flashed through his mind but he pushed that aside, he made his decision a long time ago…he won't let Death take his brother again. The selfish, greedy god won't take his brother again, Saito is entitled to live and live will his brother do._

_'Netto…' Saito whispered through the link._

**Entering…finalizing program. Program Complete. **

_Netto smiled and looked down at his watch to see he finished the program with two minutes to spare._

_"I know what I'm doing, Nii-san," Netto said aloud and through the link. "I don't care what happens to me, as long as you're all right, that all that matters to me."_

_'Netto!' Saito cried aloud through their link._

_"Please…trust me?" Netto asked. With that, he cut off their connection and contacted everyone, it didn't take long for him to wait. Pop-up screens showing familiar faces appeared on Netto's screen. Everybody held the same determination in their eyes _–Enzan, Laika, Dingo, Jasmine, Dekao, Yaito, Pride, Tohru, and Shuuko. If only Meiru was here, everything would be perfect- _and nobody has the intention of backing down or letting this operation fail._

"_Ready, everybody?" Netto asked. He flashed an all to confidant grin and open up one of his side drawers. Inside is a stash of battle chips his son managed to bring over weeks ago. In his left hand is his old Link PET _–which he took apart and modified for this moment-_._

"_We were wondering when you were finish with the program," Enzan began. "You're late." _

"_I'm early this time!" Netto argued and wondered did time fly by him while he was talking to his brother. _

"_You're late by ten seconds," Enzan rephrased. Netto opened his mouth, ready to argue again until Dingo shouted through his line._

"_We can argue later guys," Dingo said, stopping Netto and Enzan from bickering any further. "We're crabby, anxious and some of us live on the other side of the world, remember? I can't wake up this early like I use to, so let's get a move on already!" There was a round of mutual agreement and the two old rivals silently agreed they would finish their bickering later _–but deep inside, they know they won't have the time to do so-_. _

"_Okay, I'm going to start hacking the system right now, I'm going to need Laika's help with that also Enzan, can you use IPC's satellite to scramble their signal? It'll be harder for them to track us. Yaito, use your family satellite and give them false trail for them to track. Dingo, Dekao, Jasmine, Tohru and Shuuko…the moment we shut down the cyber prison's security, contact your navis at once and tell them to get out of there quickly. The four of us will join you the moment we're done here." Netto began typing immediately again after he gave the orders. He could hear the keyboards from the other lines and to this surprise; Enzan spoke up to start a small conversation. _

"_I can't believe I agreed to this," Enzan muttered under his breath. "This is going to be a low blow for the company, especially when it just recovered from the incident." He said the last word as if it was venom, which is how everybody feels about that day. _

"_If IPC is going down, so is Gabcom the moment the news of this is leaked," Yaito said as she typed down commands to the satellite. "But after this…I don't seem to mind." Enzan was quiet for a moment and everybody saw a smile gracing the man's face _–Dekao swore he almost had a heart attack from it-_._

"_Agree…getting caught or not, prison doesn't seem like a bad thing." _

"_Unless one of us is bunked with Netto, then that's a whole different story," Laika voiced. _

"_I'm here you know…" Netto glared at former Sharro soldier before focusing his attention back to his program. "In three minutes I'll be done with my half, what about you guys?" _

"_It's very rude to rush a lady like me, Netto," Yaito reprimanded, then she added. "Give me five and I'll be done." _

"_Two minutes." Enzan informed.  
_

"_I'm just about done," Laika replied._

"_Let's get this started already," Dekao roared through his line –_same old Dekao-_. A couple minutes later, everybody else didn't need to wait any longer. Everything's in place, all the Netops are now in motion _–their last stand, and their last fight as Netops with their Net Navis-_, and it's time to go. Time to break Saito Nii-san and everybody else out of that so-called prison. They even made a name for this - Operation: Prison Break, start!_

/----------------/

"How could you say that?" Subaru asked.

"I'm an EM being, Subaru," War-rock reminded. "I know when someone or something's not human. Everybody lets out a frequency and his frequency is far different from a normal human." War-rock's pause for a moment, the alien actually looked as if he was concentrating hard. "But it seems similar at the same time. That kid feels weird, I don't know what he is." Subaru blinked.

"He is still human, right?" Subaru asked with uncertainty.

"I think he's half human!" War-rock corrected. "Maybe the kid's some kind of experiment who escaped from a top secret lab!" Subaru couldn't help but to shake his head in dismay.

Apparently War-rock has been watching one too many sci-fi series late at night with his father. He hasn't seen his father much, after the Meteor G incident his parents were spending a lot of quality time together and making up for lost time. It was understandable for Subaru, he didn't mind since he has War-rock to keep him busy. A knock on the door caught Subaru's attention. The door swung open revealing his father standing behind the doorway with a mug in each hand.

"I made your favorite drink," Daigo said, handing Subaru a mug of hot cocoa. Subaru's eyes twinkled like the stars and looked up to his father. Hot cocoa is his favorite, especially when it's his dad who brews the drink.

"Thanks, Papa!" he said happily.

"So what is this I hear about an escaped experiment from War-rock?" Daigo asked and took a sip of his cocoa.

"He's talking about a new student that's in my class today," Subaru replied and took a sip of his warm drink. Even after these past three years, his father didn't forget how to brew his favorite drink after all. "He said the new boy feels weird." Daigo raised an eyebrow.

"Weird-weird or alien weird?"

"I can't tell," War-rock admitted before roaring aloud, causing the two male in the room to jump. "This is annoying, I could just go find the kid and-"

"Let's not, War-rock," Daigo interrupted. "If it the boy's secret then let him keep it, and when he's ready, he'll tell you guys."

"But Daigo-" War-rock began.

"You had a secret but you didn't tell anyone about it for a long," Daigo countered with a grin on his face knowing he won. War-rock huffed and turned away from the adult.

"Hmph, fine," War-rock agreed. "But if he doesn't tell us soon, I'll make him tell us!" Subaru chuckled nervously.

"Do you really think War-rock will have the patience to wait for an answer, Papa?" Subaru asked. Daigo merely winked in return. Translation: Of course not. Subaru rolled his eyes in return. It was a rhetorical question, and he shouldn't have asked in the first place.

"You haven't told me the name of the new kid," Daigo pointed out and then took another sip of his drink.

"Saito. His name is Hikari Saito." Subaru said and Daigo choked, the man placed his mug down on the tabletop and wiped his mouth with one hand.

"'Hikari?'" Daigo repeated with disbelief. "I haven't heard that surname in years." Subaru blinked.

"You know about Saito?"

"Nope, but I think I know who his father was," Daigo replied. "Hikari Sai…if I'm correct. He transferred to my seventh grade class and was known as the shortest guy out of all the boys and girls in my grade." The older man then frowned. "He never spoke much in class but he was really smart when it comes to history. Too bad he left the following summer. Something about a family emergency…I don't think anybody has heard or contacted him since."

"Like he disappeared or something," War-rock said. "One more piece of the puzzle to solve." Subaru shook his head; he almost forgot about the police series War-rock watched with his mother.

"Do you have a picture of him?" Subaru asked, curiosity is getting the best of him now and not doubt karma will come back to him with a vengeance later on. He'll deal with the consequences later on when that happens.

"It's probably in the attic," Daigo replied. "It'll take a while before I can find that old photo." Subaru could only nod with disappointment. The attic is a dark and messy place, he went up there with a ball once, it disappeared and he hasn't seen it since.

Sometimes he wondered if there's some kind of monster living up there.

/-------------/

"Well…I didn't make any friends at school today, Netto," Saito informed his 'brother' as he unpacked his clothes and computer. "But four of them walked up to me after school, I have a feeling that Luna-chan wasn't there to just personally welcome me to school. She reminds me of Yaito-chan when she started off for class." He paused for a moment. "She demanded to know why didn't I want a Wizard like everybody else and I gave her a hint about the navis. They didn't cover the Age of the Internet yet so they'll figure out my meaning later on."

Saito paused and glanced at his handiwork of cleaning his small apartment and unpacking his necessities. He mentally checked off everything that was deemed important and nodded proudly at his work.

"Cleaning may be a hassle but it's rewarding at the same time," Saito said with a smile. "Now that I'm done, I can start on my homework. Too bad I didn't have time to go to library after all. I really don't want Luna-chan to find me; she'll probably badger me about getting a Wizard until her face turns blue. I met Subaru's Wizard. War-rock was his name. He looked pretty cool." Then Saito made a face. "But that Wizard felt weird. Of all the other Wizards I have seen and been around with, War-rock looked and felt a bit different. I think he knows I'm a bit different too. That would be bad for me if he knew about my secret, don't you think, Netto?"

The silence of his apartment was his answer but that didn't bother him too much. Saito ignored the silence knowing his brother was never there and knew Netto will never answer him. Saito switched his computer on and pulled out his music play list and chose a random song to fill the room with music _–anything to cover the silence-_, then pulled out his homework assignment from his backpack and began solving the math.

He didn't talk to 'Netto' for the rest of the evening.

/------------/

'_Those sickening humans are still alive; they're like cockroaches that would never seem to go away.'_

'_We should have finished the job back then if it wasn't for those dolls.'_

'They even made a lesser being of us…how disgusting and pitiful.'

'_The only thing that is eye-catching about them is that they can materialize to the roaches' side.'_

'…_We can use that to our advantage…and we have those to help.'_

'_Yes…yes, those can definitely serve us wonderfully.'_

'_We will use their advancements as their downfall.'_

'_We did it once, we will do it again….'_

/------------/

By recess times, Saito couldn't help but let his left eye twitch with irritation. All the other students went outside to play, he stayed behind to read the book he brought from home _–Shakespeare's a classic in his opinion, haters can get bent-_, but instead, he's having a staring contest with the only wolf-like Wizard in class. It didn't bother him much at first…until the Wizard invaded his personal space _–five times to be exact-_. By the time Subaru entered the room to get War-rock, the first thing he noticed was the tension swirling around Saito.

"Subaru-kun, can you please get War-rock off my case?" he asked. He eyed the Wizard wearily while War-rock stared back with a hard expression.

"War-rock, leave Saito-kun alone," Subaru ordered. "You're scaring him."

"Tch, yeah right," War-rock snorted, moving away from Saito and by Subaru's side.

"I'm not scared," Saito said with a frown. "I've seen worse and War-rock isn't scary."

"So you want to see scary, eh?" War-rock asked, there's a dark gleam in his eyes that Subaru knew all too well. There's no way he's going to get dragged into this mess.

"Wizard off," Subaru said, and with a click of a button War-rock disappeared and reappeared back into the Transer.

"Hey!"

"He's a rowdy guy, isn't he?" Saito asked and looked down at Subaru's Transer.

"War-rock has his faults," Subaru replied. "But he's a good guy at heart. Just don't get competitive with him." Saito merely grinned.

"You don't say," Saito said with a wistful smile, he looked almost nostalgic. "Hehe…"

"What's so funny?" Subaru asked.

"I just remembered something from a long, long time ago," Saito replied.

"Want to talk about it?" War-rock asked.

"Nope!" Saito replied with a giant grin. "The past is the past, just remembering it once in a while is good enough for me."

"…Has anybody told you you're a tad bit out of your mind?" War-rock asked.

"Paranoid, eccentric, overly optimistic, anything else you want to ask?" Saito asked with a cheeky smile.

"You're insane," War-rock muttered.

"Thank you for the new label." This time, it's Subaru's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"You're glad War-rock just called you insane?"

"Names are names, after a while you stop caring about the labels people call you." Saito explained. "Words just lose their meaning after a while, don't you agree, Subaru?"

"I guess…" Subaru trailed. There was a small silence between the two boys before they heard screams coming from the playground following with a sound resembling of a loud explosion. Both boys rushed over to the windows to see a Wizard swinging wildly with a really sharp object at hand and attacking just about anything in it's path. The students ran in every direction, trying to avoid getting hit or become the target of the said wild Wizard.

"I thought the noise problem was fixed!" Subaru exclaimed.

'_I don't think it's noise that's the problem,'_ Saito thought. Looking hard at the Wizard, he could see it _–barely, but it's there-_ a dark purple and demonic energy flaring from it. The Wizard looked up and both boys gulped as they realized it was looking straight at _them_.

Well…_shit_.

"Think it's really looking at us?" Saito asked, suddenly he felt anxious. The purple-glowing Wizard let out an incoherent roar and proceeded in climbing up the wall…punching lovely holes in the process.

That answered Saito's question without a doubt.

"Get out of here!" War-rock ordered. He didn't need to tell the boys twice as the two boys scrambled out of the room.

"We should split," Saito said. "You go straight for the stairs and I'll go the opposite direction. One of us could get help, it's a logical thing to do, right?"

"But-" They heard the window glasses crashed from the other side indicating the Wizard has arrived. Saito bolted before Subaru could tell the raven-haired boy that there's no stairs on that side but that was useless seeing the boy made a quick turn to the left and disappeared from sight _–the new kid is freaking fast-_.

"As much as I would love to stand here, Subaru, but there's a psychotic Wizard on the other side of this door!" War-rock reminded. "EM wave change already!"

"Right!" Subaru nodded and held out his Transer. The Wizard on the other side, a fist raised and ready to smash the door down. "Denpa-Henkan! Hoshikawa Subaru! On Air!"

The Wizard brought it's fist down, through the door, and was caught by an unexpected blue figure. In front of the Wizard stood Rockman, and he's look just ready to do a counter attack.

/------------/

Author's Ramblings: The way I'm going to be doing the flashback is that I'm going to do one chapter with the pre-incident and write the next chapter post/aftermath incident. So the next flashback will be a lot more…lighter? Pun not intended.

Hmmm…having two Rockman in the story is gonna be confusing.

And yes, this is taking place after the Crimson Noise/Meteor G incident.


	4. To Be or Not To Be

Chapter 03: To Be or Not To Be

_Execute!_

/------------------/

"_Do you really have to do this?" Netto complained as he watched Saito sat on the edge of the steel lab table and Meijin doing god-knows-what with his brother's circuits and wiring. _

"_Yes," Saito replied. "Apparently, I damaged some of the wiring when I slid for the home run. If I didn't get this fix, you'll have to carry me here and you know with this body I'm not that light." Saito turned to Meijin and smiled. "Thanks for helping me out on such a short notice, Meijin-san." _

"_No need for formalities," Meijin replied out of habit. "Your father is at the other side of this room finishing your diagnostics, he'll be coming out soon."_

_As if at the cue, the said scientist walked out of the other with papers in his hand, and a frown on his face. That doesn't look like a good sign._

"_What's the matter, Papa?" Netto asked. _

"_It's about the Copyroid?" Saito asked. _

"_Something like it," the twin's father replied. "But because this it your sixth time coming here to get your body fixed, I'm going to have to ask you to leave your body behind so I can adjust it and make your body more durable and for you to withstand more impacts than it does right now."_

"…_But today Mama's making her spaghetti dish," Saito stated. Being able to taste was another amazing function the Hikari scientist added. Netto takes him out to many places to try new dishes but Mama's dish beats any dish hands down. He's looking forward tonight, but if he has to leave the Copyroid right now, he'll have to wait for another month before he could eat that said dish._

"_I'm sorry, but it's imper-" the man never finished the sentence. In that exact moment, Meijin tugged another wire and unexpectedly, Saito's leg jerked, kicked forward…and slammed it between the legs of an unsuspecting and innocent scientist…which happened to be the twin's father. Hikari-hakase's eyes widen as he fell onto the ground, both hands over his crotch and papers that were in the man's hands scattered everywhere _–the trio in the room shared the 'oh shit' look together_-. _

_"P-Papa!" Saito cried, jumping out of the table, almost knocking Meijin over in the process. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm- Netto, stop laughing! I'm sorry!"_

_Netto laughed aloud, clutching his aching stomach as Saito apologizes profusely to their father. Passing scientists glanced at the scene and snorted at the sight before walking away _–it was the gossip of the month_-. Meijin just stood there and watched the scene with a passive expression while making a mental note to never touch that wire again. After five minutes, the younger scientist left to find a pack of ice for the unfortunate scientist. _

_To Netto, it was the freaking highlight of his seventh grade. _

_Hikari Yuuichiro never stood within kicking distance of his older son for a really long time._

/--------------------/

Saito didn't run that far from the class. He halted once he made a turn around the corner and waited for Wizard to come by so he could punch the daylights out of the said berserker.

Though, if he's right, he'll need to do more than just punching it.

Course, plans never seem to work when he peeked out from his corner to see the Wizard being occupied with a new figure. What got his attention the most was the figure's left hand whose shape he recognizes as War-rock.

'_Then I'm guessing that's Subaru,'_ Saito thought. _'You have to be an idiot to not notice the similarities…and War-rock's head gives everything away.'_ He couldn't help but watch the small stalemate between the two figures. _'Maybe I don't need to help them after all.'_

He soon regretted that thought when the purple aura flared and the Wizard suddenly threw Subaru back to the wall, making a crater on the wall.

"What power," Subaru commented. "What's with the aura around the Wizard? Is that it's source?"

"I don't like this one bit," War-rock commented. "I don't know what happened to this Wizard but we got to stop him. Come on, Rockman!" Saito almost lost his composure and revealed himself.

'_What did he say!?' _Saito thought, almost voicing his thought aloud. He made the connection between Subaru and War-rock fusion, but he was not expecting his classmate to be **the** Rockman he's been hearing about so much.

"Battle card! Break Saber!" Subaru cried, Saito watched War-rock chomped the card Subaru threw and watch the head changed into a drill-like blade.

'_This is getting weird,' _Saito thought grimly. How does a head turn into a saber? Can War-rock talk in that state? So many questions…and for the sake of his sanity, he decided to ignore the change and let the fight run it's own course seeing how different fusion between War-rock and Subaru's fusion is different from crossfusion.

"Watch out!" War-rock's command snapped Saito out of his thoughts and the navi watched Subaru getting mauled royally by the berserker. This time, Subaru and War-rock went though the wall and this time he didn't leave a crater this time.

'_One less damage for the school the fix.'_ Saito mused. Then the Wizard turned to his direction, spotting the raven-haired boy and roared.

"All right, you got me," Saito said, coming out of his hiding place. "I didn't think you'll have the power to take out Rockman that easily, but I guess a Wizard infused with a dark soul is different from a Navi. A bit different but the symptoms are just the same. Still bent on ruling the world, right?"

"…A bug," The Wizard muttered. Saito blinked. "Bugs…must be squashed!"

"…I don't know what's worse: being called a puppet or a bug," Saito sighed. As much as he wishes to not reveal himself, it looks like he doesn't have much of a choice. Beside…War-rock and Subaru are interesting, they're the first in a long time trying to get him to talk and he spoke more truth than he ever did in a while _–translation: he hasn't told a truth in a really long, long time-_.

'_But if you were here, you would have charged head-first for the fight, Netto,'_ Saito thought. He checked to see if there was nobody around and closed his eyes. Calling up an old programming, he replaced with his human appearance changed back into a form he thought he would never summon again. _'Even if it's just a small one.'_

"Battlechip. Golden Fist. Slot-in."

/--------------------/

"Omph!" Subaru grunted as he landed back first on the hard dirt ground.

"I can't believe a normal Wizard like that could mop the floor with you," War-rock muttered.

"Even a Noise Wizard wasn't as powerful as this," Subaru grunted and winced in pain as he got up. "I'm more worried with the dark aura it had. It's not normal."

"There's no point in standing," War-rock said. "We got to go back in before that Wizard destroys the school along with Saito." Subaru nodded in agreement, wondering how Saito is and where did his classmate ended up hiding. Just as he was about to change his frequency, the unexpected happened. The Wizard shot out of the school, past Subaru and War-rock and skidded across the field. At first, Subaru thought it was Gonta, but his friend complained in the morning he forgot his Transer at home _–as usual- _so Ox isn't here to perform a Denpa-Henkan with his friend.

"Incoming!" a voice shouted and Subaru jumped back slightly when a figure landed on the spot he stood moments ago. "Well, that was fun, I haven't done that in years. And you have pretty good reflexes jumping out of the way in the last moment." Subaru blinked under his visor and did a double take with the newcomer. He wears a blue jumpsuit, sporting light blue stripes down his sides, ending at his blue boots that are tipped with black soles. He has two yellow shoulder guards and his blue helmet has two ridges running along the top, those ridges come to a stop at the helmet's base and allow his dark hair to stick out like spikes. He has green eyes flashed with determination and amusement, eyes that Subaru was sure he's seen before -_but he couldn't put a finger on-_. On his chest is a symbol designed looking like a red circle with a black line running diagonally through the center that ends in two triangles, all of which are surrounded by a gold ring.

"Who are you?" Subaru asked. The newcomer opened his mouth but seeing the Wizard getting up, the figure turned his attention back to the Wizard.

"Seriously? I thought using Golden Fist would knock you out a bit longer…looks like the Dark Aura did more than just give you a power boost," the newcomer sighed.

"Dark Aura?" Subaru repeated. Inwardly, he knew he wasn't going to like the newcomer's answer.

"That's what this Wizard is infected with," The figure replied. "Give me a moment, I'll explain once I put this fella to sleep. Battlechip. Paralyze Bomb. Kusamura Seed. Double slot-in," the blue figure called out and from thin air, two small purple-colored balls materialized in one hand while a green football-looking ball appeared in the other. He threw the green ball first, it landed innocently under the Wizard, and it looked down at the thing with confusion. The ground under it turned black and vines shot up and ensnarled the Wizard with an iron grip. He threw the purple bombs, they exploded with contact, electric sparks circulated the Wizard's body and Subaru watched it dropped onto the ground with a loud 'thud.' The dark aura surrounding the Wizard diminished like a dying fire.

"…I want those battle cards," War-rock said, almost drooling. Subaru ignored War-rock's statement. He was more curious with the stranger that had no trouble in fighting the Wizard he had trouble with.

From a distance, Subaru was dimly aware of the police sirens coming their way.

"The Wizard needs to be put in some kind of solitary confinement or somewhere he could the least damage since he's going to attack again the moment it wakes up." The stranger informed. "The best option would be keeping this guy in slumber land until we can reverse the Darkness' effects."

"'Again!?'" Subaru cried. "Isn't there a cure for this?"

"There was…but it's not compatible for Wizards," the figure replied. "So until then, you might see me more around."

"Just who are you?" Subaru asked again. In the back of Subaru's mind, something about the stranger feels familiar.

"Me? I'm a wanderer," the stranger replied. "But rest assure, I am a friend and not a foe...unless you want me to."

"That explains what you are but not who you are, idiot," War-rock muttered. The newcomer merely chuckled waved off-handedly.

"True. True. I guess it would be rude if I don't introduce myself to you since I know your name, Rockman," he said, green eyes look back at Subaru with mirth. "My name is-"

"Rockman-sama!" Both blue fighters turned to see Luna running towards their direction. The stranger raised an eyebrow.

"Fangirl?" the stranger asked Subaru could hear the amusement in the other's tone.

"Unfortunately," War-rock grumbled. "Let's bail." Clearly the AM-ian is annoyed with the fangirl. Subaru nodded in agreement and turned to the stranger.

"Thanks for your help."

"No problem," the stranger said. "I should get going too, bye-bye! Panel out. Slot-in." A square-shaped portal materialized, the stranger jumped in and Subaru watched the portal disappeared, leaving no trace of it ever being there.

Couldn't the guy just change his frequency and disappear?

"Rockman-sama!" Luna cried, launching herself to her hero.

"Kid!" War-rock cried, snapping Subaru out of his amazement and just in time to change his frequency before Luna could latch onto his arm. Then she pouted, stomped her foot and cried in an overdramatic fashion.

"Mou, Rockman-sama, why are you so cruel!?" she wailed.

/-------------------------/

"Saito! Are you all right!" Subaru asked as he opened the door to find the said boy in the janitor's closet with a bucket over his head. Saito pulled the bucket off of his head and nodded.

"Just remind me to never hide in this dingy place. It locked me in and I tripped," Saito sighed. "Did they apprehend the out-of-control Wizard?" He tossed the bucket aside, exited the closet and proceeded in heading back to the classroom with Subaru walking alongside with him to gather his backpack.

"Um yeah," Subaru nodded. "The Satellite Police just took it away to find out the reason why it went berserk. The principle issued us to go home since the building's totaled." Saito grimaced.

"Second day of school and already I'm seeing out-of-control Wizards," Saito joked with sarcasm evident in his tone. "Fascinating." Subaru frowned.

"I don't think your parents would be happy to know that."

"Oh, my uncle is my official guardian," Saito replied and Subaru stopped mid-stride and they stood just outside of the classroom. "He's somewhere in Cream land last I heard. I send him e-mails from time to time."

"You live alone?" Subaru asked, he frowned with worry.

"It's not so lonely by myself," Saito replied. "I can take care of myself better than most adults and I'm always off exploring so I never feel alone."

"Still…"

"Then how about you hang out with us today?" Luna's voice startled the two boys. "Since we get to go out of school early, there's still a lot of daylight to enjoy."

"Ummm…" Saito couldn't think of an excuse. His mind just went blank, probably from the _–short-_ battle. Summoning the Battlechips actually took more out of him than exerting physical strength. He'll have to be more careful about that in the future and adjust accordingly _–that means Program Advances are a big no-no...unless it's a dire situation-_.

Two hundred years has made him rusty _–for the first time, he felt like an old man-_ and the only way to get back in shape would be battling viruses. How troublesome.

"No buts!" Luna ordered. "You're coming whether you like it or not!"

"…Doesn't that count as kidnapping?" The death glare he received shut him up _–though he'll have to say, Roll's death glare is scarier. He just doesn't like girls giving him that look, especially when it promises pain-_.

"Want to say that again?"

"…No ma'am."

"It'll be fun," Kizamaro said, changing the subject. "Beside, you missed out on seeing the guy who saved Rockman."

"Rockman-sama wasn't saved!" Luna cried. "He could have taken that Wizard with no trouble. Right, Subaru!?"

"R-R-Right," Subaru stuttered. Luna was in her fangirl moment, ticking her off would be the last thing Subaru would want to do.

"Hm? I thought the police did it," Saito said with the most innocent look he could pull. Years of wandering the world gave him time to work on his acting skills, and he became a much better liar than he was centuries ago _–Netto would be so proud-_.

"That jerk is trying to steal Rockman-sama's reputation!" Luna ranted. "Who does he think he is looking like a wannabe and fighting at such a far distance? He's nothing but a coward." She didn't catch Saito's lips twitched slightly.

'_Gee…glad thanks for your opinion,'_ Saito thought grimly. "Is she usually like this?" he whispered to Subaru.

"Prepare yourself, you'll be hearing this for a while," Subaru warned. Saito rolled his eyes.

"Joy."

/-------------------------/

Author's Ramblings: I wrote this in record time! I don't want to write any further, cliffhangers are just fun that way. I suck at fighting scenes, sue me –don't, please. I'm on a college student budget-. Of course Wizards would be a bit confused, Battlechips and Battle Cards may look the same, name almost the same but they're different at the same time. So of course the Wizard wouldn't know that a Kusamura Seed would summon vines. I had to go look up at a Rockman Beast episode just to find the name, I know, I'm lame that way. XP


	5. A Lesson in History

_Oh right, you slept through the whole lesson._

Chapter 04: A Lesson in History

"_Netto." _

"…"

"_Netto."_

"…"

"Hikari Netto!_" Saito hissed, snapping his brother out his self-induced trance from the computer screen. _

"_Huh?" Netto turned around to face a very unhappy _–and youthful-_ brother, who is usually nice and patient by nature, he thought for a moment just now was a devil in disguise. _

"_It's late, you need to sleep so use the bed in your office, you have a meeting tomorrow. Leave it to me to finish the network." Saito ordered. His patience was thin _–calling someone for the past three hours can do that to a person- _and he swears if Netto doesn't-_

"_Give me five minutes." Netto said. _

…_That does it. Netto just has to wake the angry mother hen side of his twin. Saito grabbed his brother by the wrists and dragged the old scientist away from the computer. _

"_Nii-san!" Netto cried. _

"_You need to rest," Saito said with a harsh tone. "Working this hard will only worsen your health and I'm not gonna watch you work yourself to death, Netto. I know what you're doing has noble intentions...restoring the net and all, but you just crossed the line. Can't you see you're killing yourself?" A staring contest ensued, Netto didn't last too long and the younger brother looked away in defeat. _

"_I'm sorry," Netto apologized. "I didn't mean to worry you so much, Nii-san. I lost myself in the work and I didn't realize it." Saito's eyes soften, happy to hear the answer and felt just as guilty for yelling at his brother. _

"_Just as long as you know and you don't do this again then it's all right," Saito reassured. "Beside, you're not as young as you use to be." Netto took those words as a challenge. _

"'_Not as young?'" Netto repeated. "I'll show you my hip and shining youth!" Saito cringed at the Maito Gai moment Netto managed to pull off but recovered from it quickly._

"_Netto!" Saito scold as he stops Netto from doing a cartwheel. Why Netto tried to do so was beyond him. _

_Just then, the door slid open and a group of ten police men entered the room, surrounding the twins. Netto blinked before giving them a small wave. _

"_Umm…good evening." _

"_It's three in the morning, Jii-san," Another unspoken agreement between the two. They can't call each other brothers anymore in public, so due to their obvious appearance, Saito called Netto 'Jii-san' when they're not with their friends _–though thirty years ago, Saito had to call Netto 'Papa'…that was the most awkward moment of their lives they vowed to never talk about again-_. _

"…_It is?" Saito rolled his eyes. In the inside, he was anxious. Something was wrong. Netto and he retired ages ago to pursue their paths in Scilabs. They haven't been in contact with the force for years and Saito doesn't appear much as Rockman in the internet anymore._

"_Hikari Netto," one of the guards began. "Under orders from the government, we are here to capture and detain your navi, . Should you resist, you will also be arrested for assisting a fugitive." _

_Saito and Netto paled. _

/------------/

No school! How lucky Saito was when he found out school was cancelled for the next week and a half to repair the damages the Wizard has caused. Of course, the teachers were required to hand them a packet of homework but it didn't matter to Saito much. He'll do all of it in one day and send the rest of week busting viruses and get acquainted with his default weapon and battlechips.

For some reason, viruses are attracted to abandon warehouses and factories, and it didn't take the navi too long to find them.

"Rock Buster!" Saito cried as he took out a couple Metools and Cloudy viruses in an abandon warehouse. The viruses let out a small frighten squeak before they disappeared.

"Battlechip! Sword! Slot-in!" Saito called. His buster morphed in a really sharp blade. With a wordless battle cry, he charged at the viruses and deleted them with relative ease. Feeling there are no more viruses anymore, he changed back to his human form, fell on his behind first and gasped for air.

"That took more out of me than I first thought," Saito said to himself. "And it's barely the afternoon." He chuckled. By now, he knew how Netto felt the first time the two crossfused.

He felt nostalgic again.

Ever since he moved here, all he's ever felt was nostalgic with almost every little thing he does now. The most he ever felt nostalgic was when he saw Subaru and War-rock as Rockman. It reminded him a lot of Crossfusion and he felt a sense of longing he thought wasn't there anymore.

Jealous, perhaps?

Maybe.

...Most likely it is jealousy.

...He should ask Blues and Searchman for some emotional advice later on the next time he calls them _-though he doubts they'll help much, for many obvious reasons-_.

"When life gives you lemon," Saito said. "Make beef stew." He paused for a moment. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea." He yawned, obviously tired and a bit low on energy. He made a face. Guess he'll have to go home and recharge first before making anything to eat tonight.

/------------/

"_What happened to the Wizard we infected the other day?" _

"_It was taken down…by Rockman." _

"_Rockman? Rockman?! That puppet was deleted years ago!" _

"_I-I mean the Rockman of this era!" _

"_What do you mean 'this era?'" _

"_It's a child!" _

"…_I just had a sense of déjà vu just now." _

"_Quit your complaining or I'll delete you here and now." _

"_H-Hai!" _

"_What are we going to do about this?" _

"_Nothing. The puppet master and his puppet from the past hindered our plans but they're gone. This child is nothing but a small block for our plans. We'll take him out very soon."_

"_So what's your plan now?" _

"_We introduce ourselves to the world and remind the world of the fear again."_

/-----------/

"So the new blue fighter said the Wizard was infected with something called a Dark Aura," Daigo said, in deep thought he frowned. Obviously he wasn't happy with the news.

"Do you know anything about it?" Subaru asked.

"I might have heard something about it," his father replied. "The name itself is already ominous and it screams evil."

"And the fighter was strong," War-rock comment. "I can't wait to battle him." Subaru blinked.

"He saved us, why do you want to fight him?"

"We haven't had a decent fight in a long time and you're getting sloppy again. He could be a great sparring partner for you." Translation: War-rock will have fun using the guy as a punching bag. Boy does Subaru feels sorry for the guy now.

"He did mention a cure that existed once, right?" Amachi asked. Subaru nodded.

"But he also said it wasn't made for Wizards," Subaru informed.

"That means in the past, someone or something else was infected," Daigo chimed and chuckled. "Looks like we're going to have to look in the past for the answers then."

"But we don't know where to start..." Subaru frowned.

"I think I know where to look," Utagai voiced.

"Utagai-san?" Subaru said.

"Have your class learned anything about the rise and fall of the Internet age?" Utagai asked.

"Internet age?" Subaru repeated.

"Your history book should have a decent amount of information of the past," Utagai began. "There were AI programs known as Net Navis back then that helped humans much like what the Wizards were doing back then. At one point, the darkness was being used and..."

"'And?'" War-rock asked impatiently.

"...I don't know," Utagai admitted. "History records of that time got pretty vague. The Internet age went downhill after a while and well, whatever we need to know is gone."

"The only lead we have and they're pretty much gone." War-rock grumbled.

"At least we know when a similar case had happened in the past," Daigo said cheerfully. "Utagai gave us a great lead on the Dark Aura and maybe something possibly more."

"What else could he give other than the past?" Subaru asked.

"Like who our mysterious ally may be," Amachi replied and winked.

/-----------/

In the evening Saito was smiling happily as he added the final for his stew. The aroma the food was letting smells delicious, he couldn't wait to taste it. The last time he had the dish was...he didn't know how long ago. In general, he haven't had a home cooked meal in a really long time. He lifted the boiling pot from the stove and smiled down at his work.

"I just hope my cooking skills didn't fade with time," Saito said to himself. The sound of his television switching on caught his attention. "Eh?"

Saito turned to the television and froze. His jaws hanged open, eyes wide and he forgot the beef stew at that moment.

"Shademan!" Saito cried and dropped his pot of hot beef stew on the ground.

There goes the carpet...and his slippers.

His landlord isn't gonna be happy about that _-he'll chew Saito out about the carpet, the old man he has to give rent to could care less about the slippers-_.

"You got to be kidding me!" Saito cried aloud. A part of him didn't want to believe it but he could tell already that guy is the same navi he took down years ago. _'However, a part of him looks a bit off...'_

"Humans of Earth!" Shademan began. "Two centuries ago, your ancestors deleted us out of fear, but our fragments survived and we wandered in the darkness part of the net until now. We used your technology to recreate our bodies and thanks to it, it will be your downfall. We can't wait to spread our darkness and wreak havoc again." The confidant smile of his grew even wider. "And to the current existing Rockman: should you get in our way...we will find you, we will hurt the ones you care for and we will make sure you suffer the most." The television then flickered itself off, leaving Saito dumbfounded and shock.

"Of all the Darkloids that managed to survive." Saito said to himself as he leaned on the counter for support. At this point, he didn't trust his legs to support himself. "And he said 'another Rockman!' The hell was he thinking!?"

...He still remembers that bite Shademan gave him.

Netto joked about it being a love bite once, Saito made him regret that in his own way, and Netto never said anything about it since.

Shademan appearance brought back so many memories...all of them being unpleasant. The ground shook and outside he heard screams and water shooting out of the manhole.

Water. Manhole. Pipes. Three clues to point out where Shademan'a lackeys are attack already. The water systems.

"Damn it, why now," Saito gritted. "No doubt Subaru and War-rock will be there," Saito muttered to himself. _'Shademan doesn't need a Dark Chip to be strong...Subaru isn't ready for that yet. For Shademan to really cause real damage, he'll have to be in the Cyber World and take control of the system from there. If he has a body of a Wizard then he can come over to the human world. The Copyroid hasn't been fully charged too so my choices are limited.' _

...He could see travel to the Cyber World aka the Net, but...

_'Come on! It's not like you to hesitate to help!'_ a voice cried out. Saito shifted to a defensive stance, looking at his surrounding and a part of him wanted to run out of the apartment as fast as he could. The voice sounded so familiar...

_'Netto?'_ Saito thought. For a moment, he had the instinct to check the link but remembered Netto destoryed it. That and Netto's ashes was buried six-feet under by Raito. "But that would be something Netto would say..." He turned to the computer with a pained look on his face. Blues and Searchman was somewhere across the world, they probably saw Shademan's announcement, but the distance is too far and he's the closest one out of the three.

A part of him wondered if fate was screwing with him, or that if he's finally going senile.

"I should really sign up for therapy after this..." Saito muttered to himself. God knows he needs it.

He walked up to the computer, with one hand touching the computer screen, Saito took a deep breath, and braced himself for the familiar sensation of being downloaded.

"Plug-in. RockmanEXE. Transmission!"

/------------/

"So many viruses!" Subaru exclaimed as he took down a row of viruses with a wide sword. In the water system computer, viruses flooded the entire system by the time Subaru and War-rock got there. It took a series of combos but they managed to bring the viruses down to a reasonable number for Subaru to use his Rock Buster to finish the job.

"This is why I suggested we should get that guy to be your training partner." War-rock said with a mocking tone. "But you didn't want to listen to me."

"You wanted the guy to be your punching bag," Subaru countered.

"Not true!" War-rock said hotly.

"You're always looking out for strong fighters," Subaru pointed out. "It wouldn't be a surprise if you wanted to fight him too."

"...Hmph!"

"War-rock? ...Come on, don't tell me you're mad."

"...What's this? A human and Wizard fused together." a growl asked from behind. Subaru and War-rock didn't sense an enemy at all, they turned and Subaru blinked under his visor. For a moment, he thought it was Wolf Forest until he got a better look of his enemy, the coloring was wrong and Wolf is with Juurou-san.

"Who are you!?" Subaru demanded with his buster ready to strike.

"So you're the new Rockman," his enemy growled. "Just as small...and just as annoying."

"What was that!?" War-rock cried, furious for being called small and annoying. "Let's teach this stupid Wizard a lesson for calling us that!"

"What do you mean the 'new Rockman?'" Subaru asked. Was the enemy implying there was another Rockman that existed? The enemy knows something. It has information they need, and the guy in front of them might know something about the incident and the guy.

"That is for me to know and you to never find out!" the enemy replied. The enemy charged, it came to Subaru like a blur. The Denpa human didn't see him coming until he contacted with the enemy's claws.

"So fast, much faster than a normal Wizard," War-rock commented.

"Do you think he has a Dark Aura too?" Subaru asked.

"We would have seen that creepy aura already!"

"You know about the Dark Aura?" the enemy asked. "Who told you about that?"

"Like we'll tell you!" Subaru replied.

"Then I'll force the answer out of you!" their opponent roared and charged.

"Rock Buster!" A blast of purple energy hit Subaru's enemy behind the back, almost knocking the beast-like Wizard over but the Wizard regained his balance and turned around.

"Who's there?" the Wizard demanded. A barrage of purple energy rained down on him in response. "You bastard!"

"Looks like time Shademan wasn't the only Darkloid that managed to resurrected himself," a voice said. "I should have expected that to happen." An all familiar blue figure appeared a couple yards away from the Wizard and Subaru with a morphed buster aimed and ready to fire. "I'm not going to let you run amok in the system. Get out or I'll delete you here and now."

"Y-You again!" Subaru exclaimed. Subaru didn't know if he's glad or relieved to see the familiar stranger again.

The enemy, however, reacted differently.

"Rockman!?" He cried. "You couldn't have survived! You should have been deleted!" Saito, as Rockman, merely narrowed his eyes at the former navi and greeted him with a low voice.

"It's been a long time to you too, Beastman." Beastman growled while Subaru looked at Rockman with awe and confusion.

"Rockman?"

/-----------/

Author's Ramblings: I could have gotten this one up a lot soon if my computer didn't crash. Had to rewrite this from the start...and I had it halfway done. Waaaah~! This would have been a lot longer if my computer didn't died. So unlucky. I knew I should have backed up the file that night. I will edit this tomorrow at school!!!! I'm on my dad's laptop and he wants it back!!


	6. Story Telling

_For our precious people._

Chapter 05: Investigations

_"Aren't you a happy baby today, Rai-chan!" Roll cooed and Raito laughed merrily as he reached for the hovering hologram of Roll. She was having so much fun playing that she didn't notice Rockman materialized next to her.  
_

_"Morning, Roll-chan," Rockman greeted cheerfully. Roll turned and smiled back just as brightly and a bit surprised._

_"Good morning to you too, Rockman," she said. "When did you get back?"_

_"Just now," Rockman said. "Netto is downstairs greeting Meiru-chan." Rockman turned to Raito and smiled down at the giggling baby. "How's my little nephew doing? I hope you're not giving your aunt and mom too much trouble."_

_"So I'm guessing you'll be leaving after that?" she asked. She was surprised to feel Rockman's arms wrapped around her waist and hugged her from behind. _

_"Actually, Netto and I are taking a week off from SciLabs to spend time with the family," He replied. "Unless there's an urgent emergency like something's going to blow up then we'll go."  
_

_"About time SciLabs finally gave you two a break," Roll said. "They're working you two to the ground."_

_"It's not that bad," Rockman replied with a reassuring smile. Their face were getting closer Roll noticed that and blushed...so close that their lips were almost touching...  
_

_Until Raito made a noise that sounded like a gag, reminding the two navis that they're not alone. Roll giggled. _

_"Like father, like son, don't you agree, Rockman?" she asked. Rockman nodded. _

_"Raising Raito will be hard...especially if he takes up like his father," Rockman commented. Raito laughed as he tried to catch the two hovering navis.  
_

_"Ne, Rockman," Roll began._

_"Yes?" Rockman asked, wondering what's in Roll's mind as he stood on the ledge of the crib._

_"Let's have a baby," Roll declared all of a sudden, causing Rockman to sputter, trip _-somehow he did it-_ and toppled off of the crib._

_The sound of giggling and a baby's laughter filled the air._

/--------/

"Bastard...after all these years, you cursed us with your presence." Beastman growled.

"I can say the same for you guys," Saito said dryly.

"Still...that doesn't change the fact you're still a mere navi...and your master is dead," Beastman said, Subaru turned to Saito to see Rockman clenching his left fist and his buster still aiming at the Wizard.

"He may be dead, but I'll still fight," Saito said with conviction. "Even if I have to do it alone, then I will."

"That incident proved to be quiet effective that humans and we navis were never meant to coexist," Beastman said. "Just like we'll prove the same with the Wizards."

"You're wrong," Saito said. "I won't let history repeat itself, Beastman."

"What can a puppet with out it's master do?" Beastman laughed.

"Plenty," Saito cried, charging Beastman. "Battlechip! Wide Blade! Slot-in!" His buster morphed into a blade and brought the blade down at the former navi. Beastman disappeared, causing Saito to connect his blade with the ground, and reappeared from a distance. _'So fast, his frequency changes is helping him in the speed department.'_ Saito thought. _'But...'_ He turned around just in time to block Beastman's incoming claws. "Your attacks are still the same, even after all these years had passed!"

"You are still a mere Net Navi with limitation," Beastman said. "You can't Crossfuse without that Hikari brat, you are bound to the Net while I can freely move back and forth between both worlds." Saito got the meaning of those words quick and he charged at the Wizard with his blade ready

"Don't you dare!" Beastman changed his frequency and went out to the real world. In his place, a large mass of viruses appeared and Saito had the urge to curse aloud. With self-control, he turned to Subaru with a grim look on his face.

"I kinda hoped he'll stay in here and attempt to take me out," Saito muttered. "Could you follow Beastman to the outside and take him down?" Subaru looked back at Saito with surprise.

"But what about you?" Subaru asked. It would make more sense that the old Rockman to face Beastman in battle seeing he has some experience fighting the beast Wizard.

"Like he said, I am just a Navi with limitations. Truth is...I don't have a median to go to the real world right now," Saito replied. "Beside, we need the viruses deleted to get the system back to normal. This world is where I'm more use to fighting in anyways. Now hurry up before Beastman destroys a building or ten. Watch your back." From Saito's tone, he wasn't joking, but he wasn't all entirely serious as well. "Don't worry, when you're done, come back here. I'll still be here and you can ask a few questions." Subaru was hesitant but with the thought of Beastman out in the real world, he made up his mind rather quickly.

"Right...but you better keep your word!" Saito merely smiles back reassuringly. Without another word, Subaru changed his frequency and exited out of the system to the real world. Saito turned his attention back to the viruses with his right hand morphed into a buster, he took aim and fired.

/-------/

Subaru appeared in the human world and he quickly found Beastman just ready to puncture a hole at a nearby building.

"Battlecard, Heavy Cannon!" He called out, his left hand turned into a buster and he fired behind the Wizard's back.

"Grr...I'll make you pay for that!" Beastman said, charging at Subaru with inhumane speed. Subaru changed his frequency before the attack connected. It was a battle of frequencies as moved and landed blows to each other. Beastman landed the most blows for he was faster and Subaru knew that when he's dodging Beastman's claws the last second.

"We really need to slow this nutcase down," War-rock informed.

"Got it," Subaru replied. "Battlecard, Green Ink!" He aimed and fired on the ground Beastman stood. The Wizard made a noise, surprised and then he growled again.

"Is that your best aim?" Beastman growled. He moved, only to slip and fall. War-rock almost bursted out laughing.

"Nope, but this is," Subaru cried. "Battlecard, Fire Dancer!" Aiming for the ink puddle, the entire area surrounding Beastman was quickly engulfed in flames and the Wizard screamed in pain.

"We will come for you, human...and that puppet as well," Beastman growled before disappearing completely, changing his frequency, and leaving Subaru and War-rock alone.

"I don't like the sound of that..." Subaru muttered.

"Don't we all?" War-rock then grinned. "But it sure beats this peaceful life." Subaru sighed.

"And here I was hoping for a year without some whack job trying to take over the world...again."

"Let's hurry up and get back into the computer's mainframe," War-rock said. "Before that Rockman decides to leave." Subaru nodded in agreement, changed his frequency and entered the computers again.

/-------/

Subaru reentered the Cyber world just to see the other Rockman sitting on a ledge, dangling his legs absentmindedly with his eyes closed as if he was remembering something from long ago. All the viruses are gone, so he could safely assume the other Rockman deleted all of them.

"Hello?" Subaru called and the other stopped and opened his eyes. Green eyes blinked and they twinkled with relief.

"Hello to you again," he said. Saito got up, jumped off of the ledge and landed next to Subaru. "So, judging by your appearance now, you managed to defeat Beastman. The guy always underestimate his enemies and that's why he loses his battles. He didn't use a Dark Chip, did he?"

"Umm...no," Subaru replied. "I thought he would of but he never did."

Saito smile widen. "That's a relief."

"So...you're Rockman," Subaru began, unsure what he should really say.

"My full name is RockmanEXE," Saito said. "It was the name Papa gave me."

"'Papa?'" Subaru said, bewildered. Net Navis has parents? Realizing his mistake, Saito chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his helmet, clearly embarrassed.

"Papa is my programmer," Saito cleared up. "He was a kind man, he was really like a father to me. Hence, the reason I call him Papa." For a moment, Subaru mused that Rockman sounded almost like a kid his age. It was weird since Subaru could tell from the other's eyes he's a lot older and mature than he looks. He could also see sadness, something he couldn't help but wonder why.

"Oh." Subaru said simply, feeling a bit dumber than usual. "Still...if that's your name, I guess I'll have to change my name to prevent confusion."

"Nah," Saito said and shook his head. "In this era, everybody knows you as Rockman. I think it would be confusing for them to know that the hero who save the world several times to suddenly change his name. Don't you agree?" He laughed. "Besides, my name was lost in the sea of time, I never thought someone else would take up that name after all these years."

"I guess," Subaru replied, chuckling nervously. Saito smiled back.

"If any, just call me Rock," Saito said. "That's what my friends call me."

"Sure...Rock," Subaru said. Then he remembered something. "What did Beastman mean you were deleted years ago?"

"Does it make any difference?" Saito replied, he smiled but Subaru could tell it was a bit forced than his usual smiles. "To answer your question: I was never deleted. Could have been but it never happened." Then Saito yawned.

"Are you all right?" Subaru asked, he looked genuinely worried. Saito smiled sheepishly.

"I'm tired, that's all," Saito replied. "Heh. Sorry but today's been a long day so I'm going back home. Even heroes need some shut eye every once in a while."

"Wait!" Subaru cried before Saito could even open a link. "Erm. Since we're fighting the same enemy, wouldn't it be better if we combine our efforts and stop the enemy together?"

"You want to form an alliance to fight then enemy?" Saito summarized Subaru's statement.

"Yeah," Subaru nodded, sounding a bit more confident than the last time.

"…I'll think about it," Saito replied before giving Subaru a small wave. "I'll see you later...Rockman," In a shower of pixels, Saito disappeared with no indications of him every being here.

/-----------/

**From: Blues  
Subject: Darkloids**

**I suppose you have already seen the little declaration Shademan made a little while ago. I would not be surprise if he launches an attack after that speech. Be careful and don't do anything reckless. The consequences will be dire.**

In other words, eat Muramasa.

_'Too late for that,'_ Saito thought grimly.

**From: Searchman  
Subject: Darkloids**

**I have also received a message from Blues. I'll be investigating this discretely. Until then, watch your back.**

Searchman didn't leave a subtle threat but Saito could image what the other navi would do to him.

Saito debated whether or not he should reply and in the end he sent the both of them a message saying he'll watch himself and for them to be careful. Last he heard from them Blues was somewhere in Creamland while Searchman was in Sharro. New nations were formed in the two century span and the trio visited all of them before they separated in their own way. Each of them made their own promises to their Net Ops, they never each other what was their promises were but the others could only wonder.

"Wonder what they're doing now..." Saito said to himself as he made his way to his bedroom...and felt something wet soaked his feet.

Saito looked down at the puddle of stew and sighed in dismay.

"Right...I almost forgot about this..." he muttered to himself. It took him almost an hour to clean up the mess, and he wasn't happy when his body forced him offline without blaring him a warning.

/-----------/

"You're serious there's another Rockman!?" Misora said to Subaru over on the phone. "You met him before and you didn't tell Harp and me about it!"

"I didn't think it was that serious," Subaru said. "He was fighting with us rather than against us. Rockman and Beastman seem to have a bad history together but I'm pretty sure that he's on our side." Misora didn't look convinced.

"The thing is, when Shademan made the announcement on television he claimed that he and his minions existed two centuries ago; until humanity from his time deleted them all," Misora finished. "I saw Shademan's message on the television too. I think the whole world did." Her eyes brimmed with anger and sadness. "It sounded so cruel. Why did the people in the past do such a thing?"

"It must have been the darkness and fear that Shademan said," Harp suggested. "It must have pushed the humans over to the edge to end Rock's kind."

"I wondered why Rock is on our side rather than being on Shademan and Beastman's side, he would have fought alongside with them and not us," Subaru said. "Rock knew Beastman and Beastman wasn't happy when he saw Rock," Subaru said. "Shademan also called me out as the 'new Rockman,' so I have no doubt Rock was the old Rockman that defeated them and that he too existed a little over two centuries ago."

"But that would make him really old!" Misora exclaimed. "I don't think any human can live that long or look that young!"

"War-rock has a theory about that," Subaru said as War-rock appeared next to Subaru.

"I don't think he's human, he's akin to a Wizard but he doesn't let out EM waves like a Wizard does," War-rock began. "He's more annoying than your new classmate." Harp appeared next to Misora with a curious look on her face.

"New classmate?" Harp repeated. "Do explain what do you mean by that."

"War-rock doesn't think Hikari Saito, my new classmate, isn't human either," Subaru replied. "Though Saito-kun doesn't look or feel anything out of the ordinary to me."

"You're not an EM-being, idiot."

"War-rock!"

"Maybe he'll have some clues on who the other Rockman is," Misora exclaimed. "Do you know where he lives?"

"...I don't know," Subaru admitted. "He was in class for two days until the Wizard went wild and the school's canceled for the rest of the week for reconstruction. I haven't seen him around, but he said something about exploring the town. So he could be anywhere."

"How about asking your sensei for his address?" Misora suggested. "A teacher should always have information on their students just in case something happens, right?" That realization hit Subaru like a ton of bricks.

"You're right!" he exclaimed. "I'm pretty sure Ikuta-sensei is at Kodama's Lab. War-rock and I can find him there tomorrow."

"Great! Harp and I will meet up with you over there too," Misora said. Subaru blinked in surprise.

"Eh? You don't have to..."

"If there is something off about Saito, Harp will notice it too," Misora explained. "Besides, it's been a while since we last saw each other." Subaru could feel his cheeks heat up.

"R-Right."

"Ah! It's so late," Misora exclaimed as she glanced at the clock and turned back to Subaru. "We'll see you tomorrow, Subaru!" With that, she hung up, leaving Subaru to stare at the blank screen.

"What just happened?" he asked nobody in particular.

/---------/

Saito woke up the next from the sound of his doorbell ringing and his internal alarm indicated him he slept through the whole morning and a little after twelve. Other than that, he felt a bit more energized than yesterday. He just hoped he isn't forced back offline anytime soon. That would be bad.

_Ding-dong._

"I wonder who this is," Saito mused. He went over to his desk first and slipped all the picture frames into his drawer.

_Ding-dong._

"Coming, coming," Saito called, he made his way over to the door, twisted the knob and swung the door open. He blinked with surprise to see Subaru standing behind the doorway and a red-haired girl he's never met before but he does recognized her from somewhere.

"Good afternoon," Saito said in a cheerful, upbeat tone.

"Eh…what happened to you, Saito-kun?" Subaru asked as he looked down on the boy's stained shirt. Saito looked down and blushed.

"I dropped a pot of beef stew last night…had to clean it up and well, I slipped," Saito replied. "Luckily the stew was cool by the time I started cleaning. I fell asleep with these clothes since…I was too lazy and out of energy to move." _–Literally.-_

"You're such a clumsy kid," War-rock commented and appeared in front of Saito. "Clumsier than Subaru when he does his chores."

"War-rock!" Subaru cried. Misora giggled.

"So who are you?" Saito asked Misora.

"Hibiki Misora," Misora replied, that question almost felt foreign to the girl seeing almost everybody in the world knows who she is. With a click from her Transer, Harp appeared beside her. "And this is Harp, my Wizard."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Saito said with a small bow.

"What a gentleman this boy is, you should learn some manners from him, War-rock," Harp giggled. War-rock growled.

"Shut it, old hag."

"What was that!?" Saito laughed nervously at the sight.

"They almost fight like married couples," Saito muttered. He didn't expect War-rock to have sensitive ears as the blue Wizard turned back to the boy, growling.

"Come again?" he growled.

Oh, nothing," Saito replied. Then he moved to the side and gestured them to come in.

"Would you guys like lemonade?" Saito asked. "I made them myself."

"That would be great!" Misora said, nodded with enthusiasm.

"Have a seat on the sofa," Saito said as he made his way to the kitchen and got a pitcher of lemonade out of the fridge and cups from the cupboard. "So how did you find my address?"

"We went to Kodama's Labs to ask Ikuta-sensei for your address," Subaru replied.

"...Oh." Saito merely replied. "What do you guys want?" he paused for a moment. "...You're not dragging me back to Luna-san, right?"

"Nope!" Subaru replied, sounding just as relieved doing so. Saito placed two glass-filled lemonade on the table in front of Subaru and Misora and then he took a seat across from the both of them.

"That's good news, so what is it that you guys want to ask me about?" Saito asked as he took a sip of his lemonade.

"Saito-kun, I was wondering if were you referring to net navis that day when you said you didn't want a Wizard?" Subaru asked. Saito hesitated before nodding.

"That's right," Saito confirmed. "Net Navigators or in short Net Navis, can be considered as today's Wizards in making human lives more comfortable and luxurious back then. Navis are artificial intelligence with the ability to think for themselves like humans since they're base off of us in the first place. The difference between Navis and Wizards is that Navis are carried around in a hand held device called a PET. Their functions can range from sending e-mails, deleting viruses to net battles."

"Net battles?" Subaru asked.

"Net navi against net navi with their operator backing them up. There were always competitions back then to prove who's the strongest," Saito explained. "Instead of battle cards, they have battle chips to fight with. Battle card designs come from battle chips anyways. "

"You're serious?" Misora exclaimed. Obviously she's interested in the past.

"Sword, Cannon, Energy Bomb...so many chips were made back then but finding them now is almost impossible since it's been two hundred years," Saito replied. "They stopped production late 206X."

"Eh, why's that?" Subaru asked.

"An incident occurred and the world lost about seventy-five percent of the world's data and Navis were blamed," Saito replied. "In the early 207X it was recorded that the final navi they obtained was deleted." Saito's head tilted a little to the right, directing everybody's attention to the television. "That is, until yesterday, Shademan announced to the world he's pretty much alive and kicking."

"So do you think he really existed back then?" Subaru asked.

"I'm not a walking history book, Subaru," Saito replied with an amused smile. "My father told me the existence of the Net Navis. Shademan implied that he himself existed back then so I can definitely say yes, he did existed back then. If I had a Wizard and somehow a similar incident happens again...I wouldn't want a friend to disappear. I'm pretty sure you guys would want your Wizards to be erased as well."

"Over my dead body I'll let them do that to Harp," Misora exclaimed.

"There's no way I'll let them do that to War-rock," Subaru said with determine glint in his eyes.

_'That's what Netto said that to them,'_ Saito thought. _'But even they didn't listen.'_

"Well, that's all I have to tell you about Net Navis," Saito began. "I'm sorry I can't tell you that much about the past. Was there another question you want to ask me about the past that I might."

"...Do you know anything about a navi named Rockman?" Subaru asked.

"Nope," Saito lied. "But from time to time, I'll do some research about that past and found he was the first navi that was rumored to be deleted." Saito thought for a moment. "Or was that an official cover-up story? Delete the strongest navi and others will have no choice but to follow."

"That Rockman was probably a coward," War-rock scoffed. "Letting his own kind getting deleted."

_'I'm not a coward!'_ Saito thought bitterly. If he could have fought back then, he would had, but Netto...

"Against the world, it was a losing battle," Saito replied as calmly as he could. "You'll have to ask Rockman for that answer why didn't he fight back then. It could be a personal reason, you can't ask his operator, he's long dead. I doubt anybody could be an immortal, you know? Though, that would be awesome."_ 'I would be able to see Netto again.' _he finished mentally.

"Brat," War-rock called, snapping Saito out of his thoughts. "You all right?" Saito chuckled nervously.

"Sorry, I tend to doze after a while," Saito replied. "I feel old...and I'm only twelve!" The other two laughed. Soon, Saito changed the topic subtly and soon the trio began arguing on topics from games to food without realizing how fast time flew by them until Misora's Transer alerted her.

"Sorry but I'm late for a recording," she said. "I really had fun talking to you and I hope we can do this again sometime soon."

"I have to get going too," Subaru announced as he got up from the couch. "I have some errands to run for my mom. After that, I have to set up the table for dinner. We're having spaghetti tonight."

"That sounds delicious," Saito commented. "Home cooked meals always taste best because they are prepared by hands of someone who is thinking of you." Subaru blinked in surprise and smiled back.

"Yeah."

/--------------/

After Subaru and Misora left, Saito spent another hour in his apartment before leaving to another virus hive. His main focus for the day is focusing on using the buster only. Of all the weapons he wanted to be most familiar again, his buster is the one he really wanted to focus with.

"Rock Buster!" He cried, shooting down the viruses one-by-one. True, with just his default weapon, it takes longer and a bit tedious, but it gave him time to think about today's conversation with Subaru and his friend, Misora.

_'We're having spaghetti tonight.' _Saito smiled a bit bitterly.

"I want spaghetti too," he said to no one in particular. If there's ever one dish he missed the most was his Mama's spaghetti. He remembers the textures of the dish and the taste as if he had it yesterday, making the yearning a bit bearable, but when Subaru mentioned his mother's cooking, it brought the yearning back full force. He should be angry or jealous of the boy, but in the back of his mind, he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried. With a fluid motion, he turned around and fired at the three viruses that attempted to sneak up on him. "You got to try better than that." he said with a confident voice.

He heard a faint click of a trigger being pulled and jumped away from the spot he once stood.

"Who's there?!" Saito demanded with his buster formed but he didn't aim. He mentally noted not to waste too much energy shots against the viruses next time. From the shadows, an EM human stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of him. The newcomer reminded him of that one show he watched back then. Something about pilots and fighting giant robots...Gundam? Right, Gundam! He felt pleased about that but the gun pointed at him tells him that he isn't here for a friendly chat.

"And you are?" Saito asked the newcomer.

"Acid Ace of the Satella Police," That immediately set off the blaring alarms inside of Saito's systems. Why didn't he sense this man earlier!?

"Nice to meet you," Saito said as he hid his fear with the best smile he could give _-which isn't much-_. "Here to fight against the viruses? I'm afraid I finished all of them off."

"That's good to hear but it's not the viruses I'm after," Acid Ace replied. Saito's smile faltered a bit.

"Then what are you after?" He heard the trigger being pulled back and he prepared himself.

"Sorry but under orders, you are placed under arrest, fugitive RockmanEXE." Acid Ace declared.

Saito couldn't help but curse his stupidity for asking in the first place.

_'Blues is going to gut me for sure after this,'_ Saito thought as he jumped away from incoming bullet shots.

/-------------/

Author's note: Fugitive Saito! This can't be good for the blue navi here. Blues is so gonna slice-and-dice him when he learns about this. Searchman...will probably use him for a moving target practice. This is the longest chapter I've written in a while. Phew! I'm beat. I'm not gonna say much but my midterms started so I'm not gonna type much this week and next week. Sorry. Once I'm done I'll get started on the next chapter right after it. Kinda danced on the fighting because...well, I can't write those scenes to save my life. D:


	7. Escape

_Note: This is rushed, so expect mistakes._

Chapter 06: Escape

_Pain. Pain. Pain._

_Saito didn't remember screaming but he was pretty sure he was. There was another person screaming next to him. Someone familiar but in his pain-induced mind, he couldn't figure out who. He heard the door slamming open, there was more screaming and shouting. Saito could feel somebody trying to hold him up but he pushed the helper away. Even contact with another hurts. _

_He screamed and screamed and-_

_He woke up again in his bed was the next thing he remembered. _

_Netto broke their twin link. _

_"Netto..." Saito began, almost in tears. _

_Never have the elder Hikari twin felt so alone._

/-/

"You were right, that Hikari-boy felt different," Harp said over the phone with Misora holding the Transer up with Subaru and War-rock on the other side of the line. "He's not human at all."

"Not completely human," War-rock corrected. "He does have a human feeling to him, which makes me believe he's some kind of hybrid."

"Hence your theory he's some kind of lab rat?" Harp asked in a deadpanned tone.

"Yep," War-rock replied in a smug tone.

"I think you're crazy." Harp replied with a blunt tone, causing the AM-ian to sputter.

"But that's the most logical explanation!" War-rock exclaimed. "What's your theory on the kid then, because I'm betting a thousand zenny on mine."

"That's my zenny you're betting with," Subaru pointed out before clicking his Wizard off button, sending War-rock back into the Transer.

"Subaru!" War-rock cried.

"So what's your opinion about Saito?" he asked Misora.

"He's extremely kind for one," Misora replied. "And he acts a lot older than he looks. When he was telling his story, it was like he was in his own world."

"Like he was there, right?" Subaru asked. Misora nodded.

"He's acting, you know," Misora began. "The way he talks and moves, I think he's pretending to be a kid."

"...What?" Subaru asked, sounding a bit dumb at the same time.

"I can tell when people are acting, Subaru-kun," Misora began. "Though Saito did do a good job in hiding it but when he was talking about Rockman and mentioned the deceased operator, that's when I saw the sadness in his eyes." Misora eyes dropped a little. "He was really sad, as if he was talking about a close family member."

"Close family member?" Subaru repeated. "Do you really think so?"

"I could be wrong," Misora began. "But the sadness was really there. He just had those eyes, but when War-rock called Saito out of it, he covered it up pretty quick."

"So my theory could be wrong," War-rock huffed. From the Transer, the AM-ian turned to Subaru. "Do you think he's some really old guy in disguise?"

"Humans can't live that long," Subaru replied. "Besides, even if the body does somehow live to look that young, the organs can't."

"He could be a vampire," Misora mused and Subaru groaned.

"You can't be serious. Vampires are night creatures, not only that, they're not real," Subaru pointed out the obvious.

"Can't you let a girl's imagination run wild every once in a while?" Misora asked with a playful grin.

...Subaru was not jealous, nope, not one bit. He was not disgruntled about this at all. If War-rock was reading the young boy's mind, he would so point out to his human friend is jealous of Saito.

A beep from the Transer snapped Subaru out of his thoughts.

"It's from the Satella Police," War-rock announced.

"Misora got one too!" Harp voiced.

"What does it say?" Subaru asked War-rock.

"It says...'To those who are able to perform Denpa-Henkan with their Wizards are to head to the address attached at the bottom of the message to assist Ace in capturing and apprehending...RockmanEXE,'" War-rock blinked, reread the message and blinked again. "I'm not reading this wrong if that's what you're thinking." he informed as he turned to a see a shocked Subaru.

"There has to be a mistake," Subaru said, recovering from his small shock. "Rock can't be a criminal."

"The message isn't a fake either," Misora said over the line, frowning.

"We'll have to go and find out what's going on," Misora said. "I'll see you over there...before my boss shows up." she whispered and closed the connection.

/-/

Saito didn't like the situation he's in one bit. Going against a trigger-happy opponent is putting him in a tight spot. The only upside of this that he's acquiring information on how a denpa-human can battle. The teleportation trick is a cheat! It's not fair.

"Surrender yourself, Rockman," Ace ordered.

"Sorry, but my friends will have my head on a platter if I do that," Saito said and dodged another barrage of shots. For the most part, the navi managed to dodge most of the attacks, but he received numerous superficial cuts at the same time. None of them were serious, luckily.

"Rock!" Subaru called, grabbing Saito's attention _-almost losing a leg in the process-_, and the blue navi faced Subaru and a girl he never met. She could fuse with her Wizard as well, so it seems. Just how many human are there who could perform such a feat? He thought about for a moment and decided not to think about it much.

"I wasn't expecting this many humans could fuse with their Wizard," Saito mused. Ace called for backup. Damn. Murphy must hate him. The jerk must hate him very, very much to make things harder than it already is. He noted another Denpa-human appearing next to Subaru. It was a giant red ox, exhaling fire every once in a while. The Ox-looking EM Human reminded him of Gutsman and Dekao.

"Ox Fire!" Subaru greeted, though he sounded a bit surprised as well.

"I got a message to come here too," Ox Fire replied. "It's been a while, Rockman." Then Ox Fire turned to Saito. "Aren't you the same guy who stopped the Wizard from the school?"

"Why yes, I am," Saito said with a smile. "RockmanEXE, at your service...well, kinda. By any chance you're here to capture me too?"

"Not really..."

"We're just as clueless as you are," Misora admitted.

"That's what we want to know," War-rock called out, Subaru and Misora turned to Ace. "Why are we arresting him? He's done nothing wrong." If Saito was surprise, he was very, very surprised. He had to make sure his jaw wasn't hanging. Thankfully, it wasn't. His respect for the boy suddenly sky rocketed.

"It's the higher ups' orders," Acid Ace replied. "'Capture the navi, RockmanEXE and detain him for questioning of the Darkloids.'"

"...I'm not with the group if that's what you mean," Saito huffed with indignation, sounding extremely offended. "I rather face deletion before I join them, thank you very much."

"And Rock has a bad history with them," Subaru defended. "He fought against the Darkloid, Beastman."

"Regardless, he is still wanted," Ace replied. Without a warning, Ace fired a couple rounds, Saito cursed, about to summon a shield but found his body was reaching his limit.

_'Damn it!'_ He thought. Then his eyes widen when the shots were being blocked by similar plasma shots.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Acid Ace demanded.

"You know...I give you props for looking like Acid and me but your acting of me is just terrible," The second Acid Ace commented.

"Two Acid Ace!" Ox Fire cried, panicky.

Unless Ace has a twin brother the other denpa-humans didn't know about, they deducted that one of them is fake. Saito fired the one first Acid Ace in the moment of silence and everybody watch the first Acid Ace's image blurred before changing into the one only Saito would know.

"Cosmoman!" Saito exclaimed. "You were resurrected too!"

"All of us Darkloids were resurrected," Cosmoman informed. "Did you really think we wouldn't return after all these years?"

"Kinda," Saito shrugged. "But I also thought I somebody might come back to haunt me but I never really did expected you guys. Troublesome."

A Dark Chip appeared in the former navi's hand and Saito shifted to a defensive stance, cautious and wary of the next course of action Cosmoman will do.

"I'm here to bring out Dark Rockman," Cosmoman said. Saito's eyes narrowed, his playful attitude gone and was completely replaced with absolute seriousness.

"I'll take that offer and shove it up where the sun can't shine," Saito replied. He really wanted say 'ass' but his personality program refuse to let him. "Dark Rockman is never coming out again."

"E-hem," War-rock interrupted between the two conversing enemies. "As much as we want to listen to two bickering grandpas go at it for the next few hours, but I'm bored!" Saito blinked and smiled.

"And I can't hold this form anymore," Saito said. "So…see you guys next time! Mini-boomer." Multiple blue balls materialize around Saito and imploded. Metal parts were tossed and flung across the room.

"That coward," Cosmoman muttered before he disappeared.

There was silence for a few minutes before War-rock snapped…again.

"What the heck!" War-rock shouted. "We could of went wild on them and yet you guys just stood there and watched."

/-/

"I'm never doing that again," Saito panted. Zipping through the net at mach speed and making it back home in record time, the navi immediately jumped into one of his extra bodies he had hidden in his apartment and sat down next to the charger. He thought about his encounter with Cosmoman, Acid Ace, Harp Note _-though he has a vague idea who she is-, _Ox Fire and Subaru.

The chest part is the most heavily enforced part of the Copyroid. However, should it take too much damage, Cosmoman could pierce through the power source of the bot...and Saito could kiss this body goodbye. Thank god he remembered to bring an extra spare body before coming over. His other spares are back with Blues, and it's kept locked in the other navi's top notch security safe. Blues picked up Enzan's taste for fancy things. Multiple bank accounts, claiming he's his own son or grandson, and owning some of fanciest homes around the world...yep, Blues is a very rich man/navi. Being a navi of the former company president has it's perks.

Not only that, in one of many of Blues' safe stored most of the data from the past. Should anyone look into their past now _-before and after the accident-_, all they'll ever find are snippets of information of them once being Net Savior Navis and that they were supposedly deleted in the prison. In reality, Saito altered his own deletion sentence thirty years after Netto's death along with Blues' and Searchman's. The trio slowly changed little information throughout the years about Net Navis and took their operators' name off the book, for the sake of protecting their operators' tarnished reputation. All the government has on them are issues of their arrest...something Saito now regretted not taking or altering when he was hacking into the government's computers.

If any, he could blame Blues for not letting him taking that information. It could have saved him the trouble from fighting and running away.

"Blues you idiot," Saito muttered under his breath. "I told you so but do you listen? Nooo, I didn't think so."

Choosing Kodama was never a coincidence...Kodama is...was Akihara. The town Netto and Saito was born and grew up. The name may have changed, but it was still his home. He never stayed here for too long but long enough to reminisce the past and leave. For some reason, this town always attracts the trouble, probably one of the reasons why he returned in the first place.

Not only that, Netto's grave is in the town's cemetery. The oldest part of the cemetery anyways. Blues donated a lot of money when he found out that cemetery was about to be taken down decades ago. Enzan's grave is in that same cemetery as well, a different part of it but still in the same cemetery nonetheless. Blues refused to let Enzan's marker be rooted out and have some fancy building be built over it. That's why the cemetery has been around for such a long time. Saito was grateful for Blues. It was also one of the last familiar landmarks of the city. The last thing of the old times they're connected with. Laika's grave was in there too. Akihara became a second home to the Sharro soldier over the years, his old country marked Laika as a dishonorable soldier when he helped break Searchman out of the prison, but the old soldier made it over to Japan before he was caught. When he died, he was buried in Akihara's cemetery along with Enzan and Netto.

In truth, the three Net Navis thought it was also fitting that their operators would be buried under the same ground, a symbol of their past friendship and partnership.

Saito flipped open his Transer to send an email to both navis. He rather faces their wrath now than later. Blues reply was quick and short.

**From: Blues**

**Subject: Re: Police**

**To attract this kind of attention in just a short time, it's a wonder what other attention you attracted in the last century. Give me a few days, I'm coming over. I'm sending Searchman an email about this. He'll be coming once he's done with his investigation. You better have a room ready unlike last time.**

Ah, Saito remembered the 'last time.' He ended up feeling bad and offered to sleep on the couch, and then made Blues feel bad and he slept on the couch instead. Blues was crabby for sleeping on the said couch for about a week. A crabby Blues and a bubbly Saito in the morning don't mix. Saito found that out when he saw Blues arguing with his toaster.

The toaster didn't make it, enough said.

**From: Searchman**

**Subject: Re: Police**

**I'll go through Sharro's systems and make sure we're not on their criminal system, for now. You better have a reasonable excuse on how this happened.**

Ah, this time it's Searchman who's angry at him.

"What should I do now?" Saito asked to nobody in particular.

So many choices, so many outcomes and most scenarios won't end with a happy ending. Sometimes Saito wondered why didn't he take Blues' stash of sake when he had the chance _-recall the fact that he's over two hundred years old and he's technically legal to drink-_.

/-/

"You can't find anything about Net Navis at all!" Subaru asked. "I thought you guys had government access and all!"

"We do, but the information was the same information as what Saito told you," Daigo replied with a frown. "Most data regarding the past have been deleted in the past. Remember what Saito said? Seventy-five percent regarding the past had been deleted but the government did have one thing on the Net Navi named Rockman."

"What is it?" Subaru asked. Any information regarding the navi could be useful in knowing the enemy and the past.

The past...what's so important about the past that they need to unearth and find that they must learn for the sake of the present? Why the secrecy? More importantly...who is Rockman? Why the past does centered on him the most?

Subaru is a kid. A kid is naturally curious for answers. It's bound to get him into trouble.

"There's...an arrest warrant for the navi that helped you," Daigo replied. On the computer screen appeared a mug shot of Rockman's face along with two other individual. "That Rockman and two other navis had a warrant to be capture." Subaru examined Rock's face thoroughly. The face is completely different from the Rock he's the other day. The Rock he knew is amused, extremely optimistic and he could be serious when he wants to be. The Rock he's looking right now looked miserable, sad and utterly lost, as if he had nothing to live for. He doesn't like the past Rock and paused to think for a moment: if this was the past Rock, then is the current Rock a fake? "There wasn't a logical explanation other than they were considered an S-class threat."

"S-classed!" Subaru cried. "There's no way Rock could be an S-classed criminal!"

"Is S-class that serious?" War-rock asked.

"They are considered to be criminals who committed treason to their own country," Subaru explained. "Basically, they're wanted throughout the world."

"And a capture on sight order," Daigo added. "...Reporting to the authorities first, of course."

"...So basically we just let a supposedly dangerous criminal go without us knowing...twice!" War-rock cried.

"You didn't know..." Subaru reassured. "But Rock didn't look like the type to be a criminal."

"And with that blue jumpsuit on, how couldn't anybody find him after so long?" War-rock grumbled.

"He could have hid himself among us," Daigo replied. "From what you learned from Saito, Net Navis were based off of us humans. I wouldn't be surprised if Rock took on a human identity and appearance to live."

"That's so...advance. Was there such a technology back then?" Subaru said. "We can't do that for EM Beings at all.

"My theory is that the technology never made it out to the public," Daigo replied. "The technology was probably given to Net Navis with the highest regard or that the technology was created by someone close to Rock."

"So do you think he betrayed humanity with that very technology?" Subaru asked eyes wide.

"No, from what you described to me about Rock, he's not the type to do that kind of thing," Daigo replied.

"Well, whoever he is," War-rock began. "He's good at hiding. He could be under our noses for all we know."

Oh…if only they know.

/-/

A couple days later, Saito leaned on the pillar outside of the airport for support. Waiting is so boring, the human/Navi hybrid concluded that years ago, but his infinite patience is the only thing that's keeping him there…plus the ride back to his apartment is a long ride and the person he's waiting for is going to pay for that said fare.

Yes, Saito can be evil when he wants to be.

"**Now arriving from Choina."**

'_Finally,'_ Saito thought.

A man in his late twenties, early thirties stepped out of the terminal with a duffel bag swung over his right shoulder. He wore a simple dark suit with a black and white striped tie. His eyes were covered behind a pair of shades, making him more mysterious and Saito watched with amusement was he saw middle age women were giving the man second glances.

Oh, if only the ladies knew.

"It's been a long time, Blues," Saito greeted quietly with a smile.

"You got some nerve to be relaxed about this situation," Blues said with a disapproving look.

"I'm not as relaxed as I look," Saito said, chuckling slightly. Seriously, Saito isn't. He hasn't slept a wink. His program is a bit of a fritz, but he's not gonna tell Blues that.

The former red navi sighed.

"Come on," Blues said. "We need to start planning about this situation and figure out how should we trend this."

"All right…but you're paying for the fare," Saito said.

Blues grimaced.

"Still a kid," he muttered. Saito just laughed.

/-/

Author's Rambling: There! I finally updated! It's a freaking miracle. If you guys want to know why, TheFanFicGuy killed and ate my plot bunny(to TFFG: Told ya I'll blame you). I got a message to update and well, I pushed all my homework aside and forced myself to finish the chapter. My second reason for not updating this story for so long is because I got into the Katekyo Hitman Reborn fandom.

Feel free to vent out your frustration on me through via review. :D

To **Fortunate Fighting Singer**: Raven, is that you?

**Happy birthday TheFanFicGuy! :D**


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